Reformat Hard Drive

[Karen]

Many, many moons ago when I first installed Windows XP on my machine, I had
a clean primary hard drive and, at the time, I had a slave hard drive that
had been the primary (therefore c: drive) on another computer. When I
loaded my Windows XP on my clean drive it decided that the slave drive
already had c: so it named my primary hard drive f:

I have used the computer in that configuration for some years now and, even
when I removed the secondary c: drive, I was not able to rename my f: drive
as a c: drive.

Now I want to reformat the drive and I'm going to reinstall Windows XP so I
can use it as a test machine.

When I insert my Windows XP disk I never get an option to reformat my hard
drive, I can't delete the partition because the Windows XP disk has already
loaded setup files to it.

I have another machine and could build some boot disks if necessary.

How do I reformat my hard drive (which is NTFS) so I can make a clean
install of Windows XP?

Karen

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the
EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main
hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Many, many moons ago when I first installed Windows XP on my machine, I had
| a clean primary hard drive and, at the time, I had a slave hard drive that
| had been the primary (therefore c: drive) on another computer. When I
| loaded my Windows XP on my clean drive it decided that the slave drive
| already had c: so it named my primary hard drive f:
|
| I have used the computer in that configuration for some years now and, even
| when I removed the secondary c: drive, I was not able to rename my f: drive
| as a c: drive.
|
| Now I want to reformat the drive and I'm going to reinstall Windows XP so I
| can use it as a test machine.
|
| When I insert my Windows XP disk I never get an option to reformat my hard
| drive, I can't delete the partition because the Windows XP disk has already
| loaded setup files to it.
|
| I have another machine and could build some boot disks if necessary.
|
| How do I reformat my hard drive (which is NTFS) so I can make a clean
| install of Windows XP?
|
| Karen

 

[Karen]

Thanks Carey,

But although I get an option to delete a partition, it promptly returns with
a message that it can't delete the partition because it has already loaded
setup files to the partition. I need a way to reformat the hard drive
outside the setup program so the setup program will see a virgin drive and
not one that used to be called f:

Karen

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral
hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before
installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect
the
EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your
main
hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the
existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the
primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support
website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the
following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------


| Many, many moons ago when I first installed Windows XP on my machine, I
had
| a clean primary hard drive and, at the time, I had a slave hard drive that
| had been the primary (therefore c: drive) on another computer. When I
| loaded my Windows XP on my clean drive it decided that the slave drive
| already had c: so it named my primary hard drive f:
|
| I have used the computer in that configuration for some years now and,
even
| when I removed the secondary c: drive, I was not able to rename my f:
drive
| as a c: drive.
|
| Now I want to reformat the drive and I'm going to reinstall Windows XP so
I
| can use it as a test machine.
|
| When I insert my Windows XP disk I never get an option to reformat my hard
| drive, I can't delete the partition because the Windows XP disk has
already
| loaded setup files to it.
|
| I have another machine and could build some boot disks if necessary.
|
| How do I reformat my hard drive (which is NTFS) so I can make a clean
| install of Windows XP?
|
| Karen